


Trust

by Shatterpath



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Threesome - F/F/F, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 07:58:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can the wolf be trusted? Regina is willing to stake her life on it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Image my surprise when I looked at some screen caps of the hood and saw how intricate it was. Yes, I know, I should have expected it, but it was still a nice surprise. Since I have a thing for werewolves, I find myself more and more fascinated with Red and she is always a delight to write for.
> 
> Regina's POV

Only one place in Storybrooke we trust to hold the wolf.

 

Ironic really.

 

As I have done for months now, I stand vigil over my sometimes lover and completely unexpected friend and ally. This is the first night of the full moon's arc over our heads, calling to Red's cursed body and soul. No, she has not made a full transition yet, but her behavior tells what lingers within.

 

My vault, once home to token of my trail of death and destruction, has become the werewolf's sanctuary. Again, ironic.

 

The dwarves had quickly cobbled together a frightening-looking iron gate and mounted it carefully in the doorway between the two chambers beneath my father's memorial. There are thick rugs on the floor in there and a pair of comfy chairs out here, beside what was once my trophy chest. Just looking at these reminders makes me hurt with memory, but I’ll do it for this lover and friend.

 

Muttering and almost growling, Ruby paces her cell, anxious and disturbed. There are no words, but her tone is plenty expressive. It's so easy to get caught up in her feral energy, the cloying danger trapped within her slender, unassuming body. Who would ever suspect this pretty young thing to be such a powerful and dangerous creature?

 

A sudden scrape of sound makes me jump up, heart pounding and Ruby's growling grows truly threatening.

 

Who the hell is coming down here at this sensitive time?

 

"Special delivery," calls a familiar voice only loudly enough to be heard.

 

"James?"

 

"Yes. Emma knew that you would want this. Suffice to say that we finally discovered some of the more important tokens that Rumpelstiltskin kept from the Enchanted Forest." Smiling slightly, he is crouched at the top of the stone steps, holding out a bundle of red cloth.

 

"Is that...?"

 

"We all certainly all hope so. It would be nice to have Red Riding Hood back. Emma wanted to bring it herself, but she told that she was worried that she would be unable to leave again and there is much to do after finding the items."

 

I'm torn between wanting to be out there with my true love, working further towards my rehabilitation, but right now Ruby needs me more. Shaking off my distraction, I move to take the crimson cloth and smile as best I can. "Thank you."

 

"My pleasure. We'll see you both in the morning. Good night."

 

The cloth is a buttery soft, dense, intricate brocade. No, it is more than one fabric, a neat patchwork of stunning fabrics in all shades of blood. I have no idea what the materials are, with their silky textures and brilliantly colors still fast to the threads. But magic was involved in its creation, so it could be made of anything really.

 

"Is that...?"

 

There are few words from Ruby on these trying nights, so I’m understandably startled. She stares intently, almost hungrily at the fabric in my hands, her eyes nearly alight with the inner magic she cannot control. Shaking off my hesitation, I step closer, almost close enough to be grabbed, and hold out the prize.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby's POV.

I'm too stunned to fully comprehend what rests in Regina's hands. Could this familiar thing be my salvation? The hood, a full-length cloak really, is not unlike the memories of the two versions of me. Real, but with an edge of the unreal that leaves a soul unsettled and often a touch paranoid.

 

Regina is steady as a rock as I reach out, a desperate grab that could be misconstrued as threatening. Against my sensitive fingers and palms, the fabric is reassuringly solid and feels just like I remember it. Before I knew what I was by the light of the moon, I hated wearing the thing, despite its beauty. Granny was so adamant, so overbearing, how could I not rebel? I understand now what she was trying to do, but the memories still hurt. Poor Peter and all of the poor fools who hunted me and died for all of those years.

 

Blurry with tears, I rub the silky cloth between thumb and fingers, relishing the feel. Within that touch, I feel a familiar thrill, faint electricity on my skin. Would it still work? Will it quiet the half-awake wolf within?

 

"Be careful to not damage it," Regina warns softly, her dark eyes full of understanding.

 

The blood red fabric hisses like it is alive as I draw it through the narrow bars of my self-imposed cage, only to catch on the raw iron and steel. Frustrated, I fight the urge to yank and get the armor in my hands and draped over my body. To have salvation so close!

 

"Wait, Ruby, wait! Let me help, sweetie."

 

It takes a supreme act of will to allow her to take the hood from me, drawing it back through the prison bars. As though the wolf senses its old prison near, it is close to the surface, closer than it has been since leaving our home. Darkness hovers at the edge of my vision and I am afraid. Can this prison actually hold me? Regina would be in so much danger, magic or no magic.

 

My shock at the key in the lock is not feigned.

 

Nervous, but trusting, my former enemy, now friend and lover, steps into my cage armed only with my cloak made of magic and moonlight. More shocking, she struggles to turn the key again, where it sticks out of the lock on the outside, before chucking the key to the far end of the underground vault.

 

"You and me, Red. Come here."

 

For a moment, the wolf fights me again, smelling her scent, the blood pumping just beneath her dusky skin. But I will not let him win again.

 

The weight of the hooded cloak settles over my shoulders, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I can breathe. Gasping and crying, I cling to Regina when she hugs me.

 

"Than... thank you."

 

"You're very welcome. I trust you sweetie. You look like you could use some sleep. Lie with me?"

 

Yes, the moon is still above, I can still feel the tug on my cursed soul. But the heavy weight of this gift from my grandmother keeps it away. And with my friend and sometimes lover cuddled to me and my neighbors safe, I can at last sleep.


	3. Doppelganger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma joins the vigil over Red during the full moon.
> 
> Emma's POV.

I know many of the facets of my lover; the power-maddened sorceress, the abused child, the sweet lover, the caring mother. In what is not really all that long, I have explored every nook and cranny of her body and soul. There are few locked doors anymore. So, there are few shocks any more.

 

Ruby is something else though.

 

Since the curse broke at my hand, she has been an ever-evolving enigma that is fascinating to be around. At first, she seemed little more than the bored country girl acting out with her flirty behavior and provocative dress. Then, I let her behind the armor and she proved to be a good friend, a pleasure I have never really allowed myself. True friendship requires the roots I have never tried to grow before I came to Storybrooke. Then Granny started pushing Ruby more than usual so she came to work with me for that little while and I started seeing more and more aspects to her.

 

Then the curse broke and there is a whole new person to get to know.

 

Red is not terribly different from the sweet girl Ruby is beneath her boredom and confinement. But there is a calm to her, a knowing danger to her that is like staring into the eyes of a dangerous predator that means you no harm.

 

The change hasn't come yet, when the three nights of the full moon turn her into a monster. But Granny's fears are real and we have all treated those cursed nights with the utmost respect. Mary Margret hadn't liked locking her old pal up, but had given in. The dwarves-- it's still weird as hell to call them that, like I’m being rude or something-- built a massively sturdy door and Regina had offered the perfect prison in her underground vault.

 

I stay with them when I can, but police duty pulls me away most nights.

 

Shoving aside the heavy sarcophagus-- an oddly quiet affair since the dwarves had gotten their hands on that too-- I pad down the stone steps and eye the empty chamber where Regina should be.

 

The arc of fear is cold and prickly along my nerve endings.

 

Heart in my throat, and no clue what to expect, I creep forward and peer around the doorframe. Behind the intact gate is Ruby's self-imposed prison, looking exactly as I last saw it. Except the sleeping lump in the nest of pillows and blankets is too large for just my pal. The mass of dark hair must be both of them, then. Sighing with relief, I place my hands on the bars and open my mouth to speak.

 

Too quick to be merely human, Ruby's head snaps up and I see her curse in her eyes. No story or vicious scars from a competent and paranoid old woman, but a baleful glow deep in the gaze of this friend and lover. The most awful rumble echoes from her, a growl like something a caveman might have heard seconds before he died horribly.

 

The ice of terror for these women I love is a thousand times worse then this cold place.

 

Then, a flicker of movement, Regina's hand I realize with a start, and the glow vanishes. Groaning in something like pain, Ruby's head drops and Regina strokes her hair.

 

"You have to actually be covered by the thing for it to work," she admonishes fondly and cranes her neck to smile warmly at me. Still shaken from what I saw, I cannot smile back. "It's all right, Darling, I was never in any danger. James delivered the cloak last night and it works just fine. Full moons should be much simpler from now on. The key should be at the bottom of the stairs. That's the direction I tossed it."

 

Still too shaken to speak, I just stare at her, willing away the memory of the monster in Ruby's eyes and how she loomed over Regina's small body in those moments. It takes a real effort of will to turn away and find the key so that I can join them.

 

I'm betting we all need the togetherness.


End file.
